Kiss Cam
by Mr. Invincible
Summary: Annabeth, trying to get back on track with her relationship, takes her boyfriend go to a New York Knicks game. But when the Kiss Cam shines the spotlight on the couple, Luke ignores and refuses Annabeth in front of the Jumbotron. Annabeth turns her attention...and affections... to a rather attractive, green eyed Knicks fan.
**There was a story in the news last year that inspired this one-shot. Funnily enough, when I looked it up again, it also happened at a NY Knicks game at MSG.**

 **Disclaimer: PJO and characters belong to Rick Riordan.**

 **Rating: T for language you would expect at a sporting event.**

* * *

Annabeth deftly maneuvered though the blue and orange crowd standing in front of the concessions. While Knicks fans were more predominant, as one would expect at Madison Square Garden, a sizeable sea of blue and gold gear marked the clear presence of the opponent's bandwagoners—err fans.

After the Warriors' Championship last season, their fans had increased multifold. But, at least it helped sell tickets at the arenas of opposing teams, allowing the otherwise barely filled Garden to have a more exciting atmosphere. She looked on disparagingly at a young boy wearing a Knicks' jersey and Warriors' hat.

Annabeth had gotten two tickets from her boss who was otherwise preoccupied. Luke was not particularly into basketball, being more of a baseball person himself, but Annabeth did not want to miss the game. She had dragged her boyfriend and told him to go locate their seats while she got their drinks and of course the soft pretzels.

She tried calling Luke's phone only to realize that her reception in the building was poor. Asking the security guards at one of the concourses, Annabeth made it back to her seat just as the person on the floor was introducing the players from each team. The cheers were deafening as the Knicks roster was introduced a sudden shift to jeering as the Golden State Warriors starting players were announced.

As the teams proceeded to warm up, Annabeth removed her jacket and made herself more comfortable in her seat. She glanced over at Luke to find him staring at his phone screen, continuously refreshing his email inbox.

Annabeth sighed with her boyfriend's preoccupation with work even during the evenings. The two hadn't spent much time in the last few months with her own long hours at the firm and his constant travelling. They rarely talked or even went out on dates any more with their schedules. And the relationship had lost the luster it had initially had. Luke had grown more distant and focused on his work, so Annabeth had suggested the two at least had a chance to get out this Friday night. Her boyfriend had reluctantly agreed to the plan. Thrilled was not an adjective Annabeth would have used to describe his emotions.

"Luke, c'mon, put the phone away and relax please," she begged, making her eyes as puppy dog-like as possible. She hoped her message was getting through to him.

But Luke seemed resolved not to enjoy the basketball game, "My boss said he wanted me on call. If he does call, I'm going to go out to answer him." But, he did slip his phone into his coat pocket as the lights dimmed.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the national anthem."

The crowd around her stood up to face the flag on the Jumbotron and placed their right hand over their heart as the national anthem boomed through the surrounding stereo.

The song was halfway over when she heard the sound of someone bumping into things.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," a person muttered as he approached near. People sent the man glares as he interrupted the national anthem and was clumsily knocking over people's drinks on the floor.

And with just her luck, the stranger plopped down into the seat next to her right as the song ended and the lights came back on.

"Great," Annabeth muttered. She adjusted her blue and orange cap as she sat back down on her seat, scowling at her neighbor when he bumped to her as he was removing his jacket.

"Sorry," he grimaced sheepishly again, turning to face her.

He was wearing a knock off throwback Knicks jersey and faded jeans ensemble with backwards cap and all. The man, who looked about her age of twenty five, had a boyish grin on his face which transformed into a devilish smirk as he noted her scowling. His intense green eyes pierced Annabeth's gaze, making her forgot she was staring for a moment. While Luke was the cold handsome type, the man next to her was the complete opposite. Hot. Yup, hot was how Annabeth would describe her neighbor in one word.

But Annabeth was pissed off that he had distracted her and already caused one commotion. For one, she missed tip off thanks to him. And so she ignored his distracting good looks, settling for a harrumph as she turned back to face the court.

The Warriors had already opened scoring with a deep three from Klay Thompson and a two from Draymond Green.

"Same old Knicks," someone in front of her muttered derisively to their companion.

Before the Warriors could go own an insurmountable run, the Knicks scored two quick buckets to prevent the bleeding.

Annabeth looked over at Luke to find him still staring at his phone as if it would ring any second. Which it could. She gave him a pointed look, but he returned it with a scowl of his own.

When Annabeth's attention turned back to the court, the Warriors had a ten point lead just like that as the visiting crowd took their team's momentum as a sign to make their own presence felt. Chants of "Let's go Dubs" echoed through MSG. Annabeth cringed at the sound of visiting fans being louder in their house.

"Fucking Warriors' fans. Half these people didn't know the Warriors existed till last year! Bandwagon." Her green eyed neighbor interjected angrily during a timeout that the Knicks had called.

Annabeth found herself nodding her head in agreement. But when he took a long slurp out of his soft drink, Annabeth was jarred back into reality as her nose wrinkled in disdain. Her neighbor had then proceeded to spill the relish from his hot dog on his jersey.

"Aww shit," he cursed again, but his eyes never left the action on the court as he dabbed a napkin on the stain.

Annabeth rolled her eyes as she refocused her attention on the court. The Knicks were still behind eight points to the 2015 World Champs. The energy in the building however was not lacking as Jose Calderon stole the ball from a Warriors' player and lobbed it to Kristaps Porzingis for the alley-oop. The crowd bellowed with delight as the Knicks slowly chipped at the Warriors' lead, finally resulting in a tie which Porzingis punctuated with a surreal dunk.

Her raven haired seat mate was standing up roaring alongside his fellow fans, his passion evident in his bright green eyes.

Unfortunately, the Knicks didn't have a chance to grab their first lead of the game as Steph Curry regained the Warriors' lead with another one of his play clock buzzer beating half court shots.

"Someone guard the damn man! He is literally open every single shot. Where is the defense? He's out there breaking ankles," her neighbor added with grudging respect. "The best shooter of this century. Un-fucking-believable. Dude's a magician."

The reigning MVP was indeed incredible, but Annabeth was reluctant to admit it when he was killing her team with 14 points, 6 assists, and 2 steals halfway through the second quarter. The remainder of the half was filled with the Warriors extending their lead to fifteen and the Knicks fighting tooth and nail to get closer in scoring.

Her neighbor, apparently a self-proclaimed basketball expert, kept yelling at the coach, "Feed the post! Carmelo Anthony is open, so stop jacking up those treys! We aren't the Warriors. Forget the guards. Our perimeter is shit."

From an analytical stand point, he was right. And the team's 3 point shooting was suspect, but she understood the coach's strategy to cut down the lead with more threes before the half.

The first half ended with a double digit lead for the Golden State Warriors. She excused herself to go to the bathroom, but Luke wasn't paying attention anyway as he was typing an email on his phone.

She watched her seat partner grab his cup to presumably refill on his drink. By the time she got back, the Knicks' dancers were performing their routine as others used their t-shirt gun to shoot shirts into the crowd. Her neighbor, like everyone else when it came to free shirts, was waving his arms wildly, "Over here! You guys never shoot them to this section."

Her boyfriend tore his eyes away from his screen to look condescendingly at the man in the backwards Knicks' cap.

"Pathetic," he mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Annabeth asked distractedly, removing her eyes from the tiny inch of skin showing below his navel under her neighbor's jersey as he waved his hands wildly.

"The things people do for free crap," Luke scoffed.

"Lighten up, it's a basketball game."

"Whatever." He snorted contemptuously and turned back to his phone. Annabeth was surprised that he even had service in this building, let alone such a long battery life.

The second half began much like how the first half ended, sloppy on the part of the Knicks.

"Same old Knicks," the older man in front of her repeated again. "Never catch a break."

The coach called a time out again on the floor.

"What's the point of halftime if you call a timeout 5 minutes into the half?!" the older man muttered angrily.

"Fire the coach," a women nearby yelled. Murmurs of agreement arose.

"Fair weather fans," her attractive neighbor grimaced. "They watch when the team is good, but call for the coach's head when we're losing to the best team in the country. This team is almost as good as the 95-96 Bulls. They're going to either tie or break their second regular season record of 72 wins. Can't they just enjoy the beautiful basketball and history we're witnessing in front of us?"

"Do you know what the definition of a fan even is?" Annabeth finally turned and asked.

"What?" his sea green eyes widened, startled, as he realized she was talking to him.

"A fanatic. The whole point of a fan is not rational. They don't care about the sport more than their team. They're more concerned with getting the W."

"I want this team to win just as much as any other fan," he said defensively. "But that doesn't detract from watching a man who is going to go down as one of the best shooters of all time."

"Well, you're a fan of the sport."

"Hey, I will let you know that I have been a Knicks' fan since I was a youngin'."

"Never said you weren't." she smirked.

"I—" But he was cut off by the obnoxious buzzer signaling the end of the timeout.

Although Annabeth's eyes were trained on the court, she could feel her neighbor peeking at her intermittently. She looked at him once before he turned away quickly, sheepishly in embarrassment.

The game was getting out of hand and starting to resemble a blow out by the end of the third quarter. Fans were no longer paying and attention, and many began leaving to beat the end of game traffic.

As the mop boys began cleaning the floor before the start of the final quarter, the Jumbotron brought out the Kiss Cam to Annabeth and her fellow fans' dismay. She watched the awkward interactions between couples as they quickly pecked each other on the lips.

She took out her phone, unable to watch the cringe-worthy kissing. As she tried refreshing her Facebook feed (which didn't thanks to shitty reception in the building), she heard an increase amount of whispering from the people around her. She looked up to find many of her neighbors were pointing at her.

Looking up at the Jumbotron, Annabeth paled at the screen captioned Kiss Cam. It was her and Luke centered on the big screen for everyone to see. She nodded her head, mouthing no, but the crowd around her jeered, chanting, "Kiss him! Kiss him! Kiss him!"

She knew they wouldn't move on until she did something. Besides, a light peck on the lips wouldn't hurt right?

Annabeth prodded him on the shoulder with one of her fingers, "Luke."

No response.

"Luke," she said louder, hoping he would hear her above the chanting crowd.

"Not now Annabeth," he responded curtly without even looking in her direction. Still on his phone. He stood up abruptly, "I gotta make a call. I'll meet you outside once the game's done."

How was he so oblivious?

"But—"

A resounding groan went through the crowd as Luke walked away, but Annabeth was having none of that. Screw Luke as his overly obsessive ways. He hadn't even made eye contact with her all night. Rather, he spent the last three hours memorizing his phone screen. If he didn't care enough to put time into their relation, why should she.

She turned to her green eyed neighbor, who, like the crowd around her, was sending her a pitying look. That was it.

The next thing she knew, Annabeth's mouth is pressed against a stranger's. At first, it was like kissing a statue. Frozen. Complete shock. Annabeth suddenly stiffened. What the hell was she doing? Kissing a stranger while on date with her boyfriend. Just as she was about the pull back, her green eyed neighbors lips pressed softly against hers, deepening with every second that passed.

The roaring around Annabeth increased tenfold. She couldn't tell if that was the crowd cheering or the blood rushing through her ears.

"Annabeth?" an incredulous voice stood out in the crowd. She was startled out of her trance like state as she pulled back reluctantly.

"Annabeth, what the hell?" Luke was shouting. But she was still staring at her neighbor who bore a goofy smirk on his face.

"Damn," he said hoarsely, his voice much deeper than she remembered it being. Annabeth felt the heat rush into her face.

"I'm—" she began apologetically.

"Annabeth—" Luke interrupted. This time, she faced him. He was furious as his whole face was a bright red. He was shaking in his anger.

"Luke, forget it. This isn't going to work. You're in way too deep with your work which clearly you care about more. Just leave," she sighed, feeling defeated.

"Look, babe, we can work something out."

Her raven haired kissing partner spoke up, "Dude, fuck off. She clearly meant what she said."

Luke flipped him the bird before walking out, saving himself from further shame.

Annabeth blushed as she faced him again. The boy's warm green eyes sparkled under the lights as he looked at her expectantly.

"Annabeth."

"Percy."

They said it at the same time. Percy cracked a smile, "So, was that you trying to get back at your boyfriend or…?"

She leaned closer, slipping him a piece of paper. "Call me," she whispered, pecking him on the lips.

She stood up, ready to leave. She had walked a few steps when her phone rang with an unknown number. "Hello," she asked tentatively.

"Hey Annabeth."

Annabeth looked back. Percy stood there with a grin lighting up his face.

"Hey Percy."

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 **The ending was slightly OOC. As for the swearing, I like the idea of Percy being a really big fan of basketball (and I love playing/watching basketball). Plus, he's a native New Yorker. He's probably got a sailor's mouth anyway.**

 **If there are any typos/grammar mistakes, let me know. I don't proofread before publishing cause I'm a lazy ass college student.**

 **I know I said I wasn't planning on any full length pieces, but as of now, I am tempted to write a loveless marriage Percabeth AU. If this were to happen, it would be in the summer. But that depends on the interest of people reading my stories, my own interest/motivation, and time a few weeks from now. I'm really into that trope right now. Otherwise, if anyone has good recommendations for fics that follow that type of a plot, that would be dope.**

 **Let me know what you thought of the one-shot below or by faving and whether you'd be interested any other stories.**


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